Finally got around to gettings the pics of the new bins as I promised in another thread.
Here's the list of supplies I used to make them....
Sterlite 35 gallon heavy blue bin (must be snap top lid) - $11.00 each
Super Pet 32 oz water bottle - $4.00 each
1/2" Hardware Cloth - $5.00 for a small roll (does about 3 or 4 tubs...the bigger roll is more cost effective per enclosure) for mice or ASF's use 1/4" cloth
Heavy grade zip ties - $3.00 for 100 (I use 20 zip ties per mesh side so 40 per tub...I like those rats secured in LOL)
So basically not counting bedding and whatever food bowls you use it's approximately $16.00 per large enclosure.
Label from bin....
Label from hardware cloth....
Super Pet 32 oz water bottle....I love the spring clip, works very well to remove the bottle without detaching it and the 32 oz gives lots of water to the rats....
New bins....they measure 30 long x 18 high x 19 deep....as you can see by this pic there is very little kick out of bedding through the mesh sides...this is about 30 hours after a tub tidy and basically all you get kicked out is a light dusting from their feet when they climb the mesh.....
They have a nice strong lid clip on each end and the lids themselves are good and rigid with little give....very easy to grasp and move around even for me and I'm barely over 5 feet...not particularily heavy even with the rats and so forth....
View through both mesh sides....these mesh sides are 24" x 10" and provide excellent flow through ventilation....I'm finding this much more efficient than the top mesh concept I first used....I allowed for bedding kick out by not starting the plastic cut out until about 6 inches up from the bottom of the tub.....
The bin I took these pictures of is my grow out bin for my future female breeder rats (that's Violet and Diva climbing)....the rats seem to enjoy climbing the mesh but have not show any interest at all in lid chewing....I think they enjoy the exercise of climbing up and along the mesh and I'm all for fit, happy rats! LOL....
Bird's eye view of the same bin, showing a bit of the mesh sides.....
Bins stacked two deep...so far this duplex is working out really well for me....I have recently found a large plastic shelving unit that will fit these tubs perfectly and with the mesh sides the shelves of the unit will not interfere with the nice air flow I have going on....depending on the weight of the rats you could likely stack them 3 high without any problem with the lids....
These were my older big rat bins and I still have some of them in use. The only issue I've ever had with them is the plastic is a bit thin on them compared to these heavier grade blue bins and I did have some chew outs. These blue bins are stronger and have less ridges inside so I believe they will be better on that issue.
I plan on using these tubs for adult rats, grow out feeder rats and mothers with litters over 15 days of age. I double them up at that point, 2 moms that get along and their litters in one of these bins...seems to be working out very nicely so far. Before that time each female rat is in a 10 gallon tank with her new borns.
The "Maternity Ward"....
Hope this was of interest to some of you.
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